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THE DALLES, (fr. flagstones) 100.8 m. [West of Hwy. 730 Junction] (95 alt., 5,885 pop.).
Points of Interest: Federal Building, City Hall, Wasco County Court House, The Horn, Fort Rock, St. Mary's Academy, and others.
Admittedly, this article below has nothing to do with the history I am discussing on this website, but it is a cool story that I want to share anyway. Dohnal shares it in her book as an example of the spirit of the community in the Gorge, so ok, sure, that!
Demonstrating the spirit of the Gorge:
Records showing that a Dalles dog, "Tip" was officially discharged from the United States army, have been uncovered by employees of the adjutant-general's office at Salem during the reclassification of the old war documents. Tip was mustered out of service with Company L, Second Oregon Infantry, with which Company G of The Dalles was merged at the Presidio, San Francisco, August 7, 1899. The dog had been with the army two years, and had been in 54 engagements, it was said.
According to Fred Kennedy of The Dalles, who well remembers the animal, it was originally owned by Ben Ulrich who sold or gave Tip to Chris C. Lowe. Just how Tip happened to join Company G is not in the histories. The records show that the dog was enlisted for the duration of the Spanish-American war. At the time of its enlistment, it was 1 year, four months old; 1 foot 4 inches tall, fair complexion, brown eyes and white hair. Its occupation was given as that of a "bull pug".
Under the heading of distinguished service appears this record: "Caught chickens for the company, which grub was scarce on the firing line. Tip participated in all the major insular engagements and skirmishes, taking part in the capture of Manila, the battle of Malabon and Polo and other campaigns. Mr. Kennedy vouches for the fact that Tip performed a real service in the procurement of chickens, the dog having helped veteran bring in 13 fowls in an evening. Other members of the Billy Fields post here remember Tip and are interested to learn that the dog's military service record was as carefully kept as that of the regular soldier.
There was some hurt feelings when I shared Gary's video on the Facebook page a few days ago because of his unflattering comments about The Dalles at the end of the video, and the fact that he was sharing those comments while walking through a back alley. Here is some of what I wrote in response, edited, with some further thoughts added:
This endeavor is not meant as a tourist promotion site, but just documenting stuff going on around the highway. Aside from the box blowing, which is just kind of cool to me, the main reason I shared this was specifically about the buildings and alley. As I dig deeper in the future, there may be some interesting history to those buildings and this little video may have some value. Or it may not. One never knows.
There are many lost locations along the highway where there are no known photographs because people did not think they were worthy of photos that we would love to have now. The Warren Creek Bridge springs to mind, the old flumes diverting the creeks over the highway there and in other spots... These things come to mind. One of the passing thoughts I had while watching this video was of the Black & White Restaurant, which seems to have been a prominent stop for early highway travelers in The Dalles, but of which little information or photos seem readily available,
So I am not sure if we'll ever find historical value in Gary's video or not, but I am curating stuff like this just in case.
Beyond that, there are some unflattering topics covered here and there up and down the highway, and as I move into later phases of this project conducting interviews for the book and likely documentary, folks will be expressing their opinions on a number of topics, mostly around the State Trail and land use issues, that many may find unpopular. In fact, one of the new Facebook page administrators has some strong opinions on the State Trail that he is sharing.
I feel, as a historian, that it is important to document these opinions... And let's be honest, true or not, Gary's comment does convey a late-20th Century / early-21st Century feeling that many Portland area residents have about The Dalles. Heck, my Oregon hometown is Gresham, and while I love it, it might take some big dings when I get more work in on the Mt. Hood Loop later on! Folks love to hate on Gresham!
Gary's little toss off comment at the end of his video may be small potatoes compared to some of what may be coming along further down the line, but like I said, this project is not about tourist promotion or pretty pictures, even though the subject matter happens to be in a spectacular place, so there are a lot of pretty pictures because of that.
If you read the About page, you'll see that this project is largely, at this point, a giant notebook of relevant information to be used by myself and other researchers to work on their projects. Sometimes the page and the websites are sort of catch-alls because of that. I am not sure who will find what useful in their research.
There are a lot of old buildings in The Dalles that I want to take a look at and, I can say for me, once I work through that video, it very well may be a good resource for me historically, capturing these buildings at a specific point in time.
Finally, I know Gary a little bit in real life and he is a good guy, though with a goofy sense of humor. He himself, I am sure, would be the first to say he meant no harm and would applaud the efforts The Dalles has made to make their community a wonderful place to live and play.